Chapter 9 - The Man Who Owned the OrchardThe explosion did not kill them because Cyrus moved first.
He slammed into Maisie and Elena with his full weight, knocking them behind a concrete support pillar a heartbeat before glass and metal ripped through the corridor.
Finn hit the floor beside them.
Julian rolled behind the opposite wall, firing twice into the smoke before he even knew what he was aiming at.
Men shouted.
Dogs barked.
Alarms screamed.
Red lights spun over white walls now painted with dust and ruin.
Maisie’s ears rang so badly she thought, for one terrifying second, that the explosion had taken her hearing too.
Then she felt Elena’s hand on her face.
“My baby. Maisie, breathe. Breathe.”
Maisie gasped.
Sound rushed back in pieces.
Finn coughing.
Cyrus snarling.
Julian barking orders.
And footsteps.
Slow footsteps.
Someone was walking through the smoke without fear.
Julian rose, gun aimed.
A man emerged wearing a charcoal overcoat and black gloves.
He looked nothing like the monsters Maisie imagined.
His voice was warm.
Almost pleasant.
“Julian Hart,” he said. “Still solving every problem with bullets.”
Julian’s eyes narrowed. “Victor Sable.”
Elena stiffened.
Maisie felt her mother’s fear like a current through her hand.
Victor Sable smiled. “Elena. You look better than expected.”
Julian fired.
Victor’s bodyguard pulled him aside just in time, and the bullet struck the wall behind him.
Gunfire erupted.
Julian’s men and Victor’s guards traded shots through smoke and broken glass. Finn dragged Maisie lower, shielding her with his body. Elena grabbed a fallen weapon with the practiced hands of someone who had survived too much.
Maisie clutched Cyrus.
But Cyrus was not afraid now.
He was waiting.
Listening.
Like she was.
Victor’s voice cut through the chaos. “Careful, Julian! Shoot too wildly and you might hit the girl. We need her alive, but you have always been careless with family.”
Julian’s face twisted.
Elena shouted, “Don’t listen to him!”
Victor laughed. “She never told you, did she? What Black Orchard really is?”
Julian fired again.
Victor disappeared behind a steel column.
Maisie whispered, “Mom?”
Elena’s grip tightened.
Victor continued from the smoke. “Your sister did not stumble onto our work. She was born into it. Your father funded the first facility.”
Julian froze.
The gunfire slowed as men shifted positions.
Victor’s voice became softer, crueler.
“Hart money bought the land. Hart trucks moved the cages. Hart lawyers buried the complaints. Did you think your empire was clean because you never read the paperwork?”
Julian looked at Elena.
She could not deny it.
“I found out after Father died,” she said. “I tried to destroy it.”
Victor stepped partly into view again. “And failed.”
Elena aimed at him. “I got the files out.”
“You got one drive out. A charming effort.”
Maisie turned her head. “No.”
Everyone looked at her.
She was listening past the alarms, past the men, past the rainwater dripping through the broken ceiling above.
A tiny clicking sound repeated behind Victor’s voice.
Not from a gun.
From his cufflink.
“You’re recording this,” she said.
Victor’s smile faded slightly.
Maisie continued. “Not for proof. For someone watching.”
Julian’s eyes sharpened.
Mace, bleeding from one arm, lifted his radio. “Signal scan. Now.”
Victor’s pleasant mask cracked.
“Kill the dog,” he ordered.
One of his men lifted a rifle toward Cyrus.
Maisie screamed, “Down!”
Cyrus dropped instantly.
Julian shot the gunman before he could fire.
The corridor erupted again.
Victor retreated toward a side door.
Elena shouted, “He can’t leave!”
Julian ran after him.
Finn yelled, “Don’t split up!”
But Julian was already gone.
Maisie pushed herself up. “Cyrus.”
The dog stood.
Elena grabbed her. “No.”
“Mom, he’ll lose him.”
“I just got you back.”
“And you’ll lose Uncle Julian if we stay.”
The word Uncle struck Elena’s face with fresh pain.
Maisie had not meant to say it. It had simply come out.
Julian Hart was not safe. Not gentle. Not good in the easy way stories liked men to be good.
But he had opened Cyrus’s cage.
He had come for Elena.
He had chosen family when it was dangerous.
Maisie turned toward the side corridor.
Cyrus was already pointing that way.
Finn groaned. “Of course we’re chasing the villain through an underground dog prison. That’s normal.”
Elena loaded the weapon. “Stay behind me.”
Maisie nodded.
May you like
Finn muttered, “Nobody in this family understands behind.”
And together, they ran into the dark after Victor Sable.
Related Stories
